title: A single unexpected change in target- but not distractor motion impairs multiple object tracking.
abstract: Recent research addresses the question whether motion information of multiple objects contributes to maintaining a selection of objects across a period of motion. Here, we investigate whether target and/or distractor motion information is used during attentive tracking. We asked participants to track four objects and changed either the motion direction of targets, the motion direction of distractors, neither, or both during a brief flash in the middle of a tracking interval. We observed that a single direction change of targets is sufficient to impair tracking performance. In contrast, changing the motion direction of distractors had no effect on performance. This indicates that target- but not distractor motion information is evaluated during tracking.
authors.affiliation: Knowledge Media Research Center Tübingen, Schleichstr. 6, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; e-mail: h.meyerhoff@iwm-kmrc.de.
authors.forename: Hauke S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Meyerhoff
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Papenmeier
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jahn
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Huff
keywords: distractor motion; motion direction; multiple object tracking (MOT); target motion